What to make of Warriors’ Game 2 fourth-quarter contributors vs. Mavericks

What to make of Warriors’ Game 2 fourth-quarter contributors originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea

SAN FRANCISCO — The Third-Quarter Warriors stole the show for the umpteenth time Friday night at Chase Center in their wild comeback win over the Dallas Mavericks in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals. Down by as many as 19 points in the second quarter, the Warriors trailed the Mavs by 14 going into halftime before finding their superpowers and coming out of the locker room with invisible capes.

In those 12 minutes, the Warriors outscored the Mavs 25-13. Their 25 points were tied with the first quarter for their lowest-scoring period, and Kevon Looney was their best offensive player, scoring 11 of his career-high 21 points. The Warriors continued to attack the paint, going 9-for-16 on 2-pointers, though the quarter belonged to Golden State’s air-tight defense.

The Mavs brought the Texas heat to San Francisco, making 15 first-half 3-pointers on 27 attempts — good for a 55.6 percent clip. They then made only two of their 13 attempts in the third quarter, and their lead was diminished to two points. Eighteen seconds into the fourth quarter, the Warriors took their first lead of the night, 86-85, on an Otto Porter Jr. 3-pointer.

While the Warriors’ latest third-quarter clinic brought them back into the game, what they did and who stepped up in the fourth tells us a lot.

Steve Kerr opened the fourth quarter with a lineup of Jordan Poole, Klay Thompson, Moses Moody, Porter and Kevon Looney. No Steph Curry, no Draymond Green and a 19-year-old rookie thrown into crucial minutes in the conference finals.

No problem.

“We’ll see how Game 3 unfolds, but tonight, I thought Jordan, Otto, Moses in the fourth — I thought those guys were great,” Kerr said. “Our bench came through big-time.”

Throughout the regular season and the playoffs, Poole and Porter have been fourth-quarter contributors and closed out games. But Moody? This is different, and it feels like a change for…